Page 119 of War Queen
Chapter thirty-one
Theopenmarketssmelledof cooking meat, and Norah’s stomach grumbled. She followed the scent of smoke and spice through the streets of Redding, one of the Free Cities just beyond the outer reaches of Mercia. Mikael and Soren weren’t keen on stopping in the Free Cities when traveling between Mercia and Kharav—they weren’t keen on any city not in Kharav—but Mikael had surprised her with the idea, and Norah had quickly accepted. She needed a break, something to distract her mind.
She walked freely. The city was so used to travelers and merchants passing through that no one took notice of her, no one recognized her. She loved it. Only a few of the Crest moved through the crowds around her, at a distance, not close enough to draw attention to her, as she had asked of them. However, there was no convincing Mikael and Soren, who paid no mind to blending in and followed ridiculously close.
She finally found the source of the wonderful smell and stopped at the stall of the culprit.
“What’ll ya ‘ave?” asked a pot-bellied man without looking up. He stood over a grate along a pit fire, turning meats as they cooked.
“One of those sausages,” she said, pointing to a steaming plate on the side.
“Two sum.”
Norah puffed a breath through her lips. She had forgotten they dealt in a separate currency here. She pulled a gold coin from her pouch. “I think this will suffice?”
The man grinned and held out his hand, and she dropped it into his palm. Then he offered her the plate to take her pick. Norah pulled her dagger and speared the one on the end, and then smiled as she turned to continue walking. But she stopped when she saw Mikael and Soren staring at her in surprise.
“Did you just pay a gold coin for a sausage?” Soren asked with a snaked brow.
She looked at Mikael, then back at Soren. “No.”
“I saw you.”
She pursed her lips. “I was hungry.”
“You could have at least gotten more than one then.”
She eyed him directly as she took a bite of the sausage.
Mikael brushed her arm. “Do you want to stay longer?”
She shook her head and swallowed. “No, we should get going. It was nice to stop for a little while, though.”
“We’ll still reach the Fork by nightfall, so no time lost.”
He was trying to keep pressure off her, and she appreciated that. “I’m good,” she assured him, and looped her arm in his. She took another bite of her sausage as they headed out of the city and back to where the rest of the men waited.
“Do you want a bite?” she asked, holding the daggered meat up toward his lips.
Mikael leaned forward and bit the sausage, but instead of taking a piece, he polished off the rest.
She gasped. “I said a bite! Not my whole sausage!”
He chuckled and then swallowed the meat. Norah put on her best attempt at a mad face, but she couldn’t keep it. It had been a while since she’d heard him laugh or seen him smile, and she’d missed it. She gazed up at him, and the air lightened. She’d missed that too. He grazed her cheek with his hand—she knew he missed the closeness between them as well.
He pulled her into a kiss. “I’ll get you another,” he said, and turned back to the market stall not far behind them.
She pursed her lips at Soren, who stood with a scowl. “Go get yourself one; I know you want to. I’ll wait.”
He mumbled what could only be curses under his wrap, but he followed after Mikael. She knew it—who could resist a sausage?
She caught sight of Bhastian across the way to her right, keeping his eye on her, and he shook his head in amusement.
Norah couldn’t help a smile. Despite the heaviness of the circumstances, her heart was lighter than it had been in a while. Maybe it was this place. Freedom hung all around from her insignificance in the hustle and bustle of the city, and she simply stood and closed her eyes in its noisy peacefulness. A slight breeze danced around her, cold but refreshing, and the weight of everything fell away. The coming war, Japheth and Rael, Alexander, her grandmother—she dropped them from her mind, just for a moment. She didn’t allow herself to enjoy these fleeting moments often. This one, she would. And soon she’d have another delicious sausage, so it would be even better.
Norah opened her eyes again and glanced back at Mikael, who was paying the merchant for the whole plate of sausages, and she laughed.
A faint wind swept through again, but colder this time.
